The present invention relates to shredding machines and more particularly to a shredding machine that is particularly well suited to provide the destruction of waste products that may contain confidential medical information generated by retail pharmacies.
The use of shredding machines is a well-known practice, that varies greatly in both application and operation. Shredding machines are used to shred a variety of products ranging from light-weight paper to heavier items, such as thin-walled containers. Existing machines differ by design to withstand the specific rigors of their particular application, and for use in the specific type of environment in which they will be operating.
A shredding machine used in the shredding of disposable containers is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,336 to Lodovico et al, which is directed to a machine claiming an improved method of cutting into small pieces the thin wall material of disposable containers such as plastic bottles or metal cans. Prior shredding machines are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,126 to Lodovico et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,515 to Wagner.
Despite the existence of a variety of shredding machines, there remains a need for a shredding machine that is well-suited for use in pharmacies and particularly in retail pharmacies that provide services directly to consumers. Under current governmental regulation (e.g. HIPAA), pharmacies are strictly required to protect the confidential information of customers. These requirements extend to information that may be contained in paperwork or on the labels applied to pharmaceutical containers. Some of the current practices for disposal of this waste includes manual destruction of labels and paperwork, and contracting disposal services to take bottles and labels to a shredding center. Removing the bottles from the pharmacy site does not allow observation and therefore confirmation by the pharmacy staff that the labels have been destroyed per HIPAA requirements. Also, the current disposal processes requires two steps instead of one to complete.